Musical variety filmed at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York City.


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Director: Joseph Kohn, Leonard Reed
Producer: Ben Frye
Production Company: Studio Films
Audio/Visual: sound, black & white
Keywords: Short; Music
Contact Information: www.k-otic.com

Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0

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Reviewer: bobsluckycat - - March 24, 2012
Subject: Black Musical History Lesson
Technical garbage and all that aside, this little musical gem features a handful of very talented Black singers and musicians of the day and sad to say they were not show-cased much outside of this film and a few more like it, and it probably did not play beyond the segregated theatre venues of the day. Enjoy the performances for what they are and for the most part they are just great. Sarah Vaughn is probably the finest pop/r&b singer from that period. She does two throwaway songs. Much,much later Cab Calloway and Nipsy Russell would come back to the fore-front in block-buster films in the late 70's-early 80's and on TV for the stars that they were. Unless you are an R & B Buff, check these performances out for something new to you in something old from the dawn of rock-n-roll. Buffs,like me, will just eat this up. Enjoy.!

Reviewer: DavidMcGillivray - - February 11, 2012
Subject: Basin Street Revue
One of three similar variety bills (the other two are also on IA)featuring leading black jazz, r&b and rock 'n' roll performers of the mid-50s. Despite the claim that they were shot at New York's Apollo Theatre, they were almost certainly shot without a live audience in a TV studio. For some reason this is a cut version of a 58 minute feature. Nat "King" Cole is one of several billed acts who don't appear; nor does top of the bill Count Basie! Instead the show closes with Cab Calloway. The complete version is in the British National Film Archive. Tech credits are pretty basic. Note how the cameraman chooses to leave the bass singer of The Clovers out of frame until late in the song.